382 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



water in the ditch, and a good deal of rotting wood 

 branches fallen from tree's. 



One of the most interesting phenomena in connection 

 with the weather seems to me to be the radiation of 

 clouds. It appears to be more commonly visible in 

 the evening, and when fully developed there is a low 

 bank on the horizon, roughly arched, from which 

 streamers of cloud trail right across the sky, through 

 the zenith and down to the horizon opposite. Near 

 each horizon these streamers or lines almost touch ; 

 overhead they are wider apart an effect of perspective, 

 I suppose. Often the lines do not stretch so far, 

 hardly to the zenith, where they spread out like a fan. 

 If the sun has gone down, and the cloud chances to 

 be white, these lines greatly resembL the aurora bore- 

 alis, which takes the same form, and when pale can 

 scarcely be distinguished from them, except for the 

 streamers shooting now extending, now withdrawing 

 while the cloud streamers only drift slowly. Some- 

 times there is but one line of cloud, a single streamer 

 stretching right across the sky. So far as I have been 

 able to observe, this radiation is usually followed by 

 wind blowing in a direction parallel to the course of 

 the streamers. 



Once while walking in winter I was overtaken by a 

 storm of rain, and took shelter behind a tree, which 

 for some time kept me perfectly dry. But suddenly 

 there came an increase of darkness, and glancing 

 round, I saw a black cloud advancing in the teeth 

 of the wind, and close to the earth. The trees it 



